News

Rhode Island law requires property owners to register their rental properties with a newly created Rhode Island Department of Health public Rental Registry by October 1, 2024.  Judah Boulet, Chief of Program Development for Lead Poisoning Prevention, has clarified that rumors that the deadline has been postponed until 2025 are NOT true.  Mr. Boulet also sent the following blast email to all lead inspectors.  Please alert your customers and clients.

Do you own, lease or manage a rental unit?   Rhode Island law now requires property owners to register their rental properties with a newly created Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) public Rental Registry. 

All rental dwelling units must be registered including units that were built before, during or after 1978. Landlords - file this affadavit with the court if you wise to evict a tenant for nonpayment of rent but your lead inspection is not complete.

Warwick, R.I. – August 19, 2024 – The Rhode Island Association of Realtors recently released home sales data that showed the median price of single-family homes once again broke records in July, topping out at $495,000, a 12.5% gain from 12 months earlier. The number of listings on the market also rose from last year, rising 16.2%, helping to spark a 21.2% increase in sales activity. Pending sales, a leading indicator of future sales activity, stabilized after 30 consecutive months of decline.

August 2, 2024 – The median price of single-family homes sold in the second quarter rose to $470,130, a 9.3% increase from a year earlier. Sales activity fell by roughly the same percentage, dropping 8.7% year-over-year.  Stiff competition caused by pent-up demand shortened the average time homes stayed on the market before going under contract to just four weeks.

Rhode Island law requires lead inspectors to file lead certificates for pre-1978 rental properties after inspecting them. A newer law requires property owners to register their pre-1978 rental properties by October 1, 2024 with a new Department of Health registry that is in the process of being created. Governor McKee filed legislation to postpone the law for a year, but it did not pass.

In July, 2024, the Rhode Island Department of Health (DOH) updated two forms, which are posted on the DOH website:  

▪Affidavit of Completion of Visual Inspection (Use every two years unless there is tenant turnover.) 

▪Lead Hazard Mitigation Presumptive Compliance Application (Use when a property has 10 or more units.)

Both forms are available in English and Spanish.

Starting on January 1, 2025, a new law will make it easier for tenants to understand the full cost of a rental.  Rhode Island Public Laws 308 and 309, which are identical,  will require a landlord to disclose all fees to a tenant in writing as part of a written rental agreement or a separate disclosure if there is no written rental agreement.  The fees must be mentioned in the same section as rent.

In late June 2023, a new law gave members of the public the right to access private beaches up to ten feet above the “recognizable high tide line.”  In 2024, a new law H7376A.pdf requires sellers to notify buyers of rights of way and permits that affect the public’s shoreline access rights over the property.   The intent of the law is to reduce conflicts between members of the public and property owners by educating new owners.

Warwick, R.I. – July 22, 2024 – Despite a 32% increase in the number of single-family homes on the market since June of last year, the median price of Rhode Island homes sold last month continued to rise, hitting a new high of $494,000. The figure represented an 11.6% increase in median price from 12 months earlier, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors reported today.

On June 25^th, 2024, Governor McKee approved a new law that regulates the types of fees that a landlord can charge a tenant.  Rhode Island Public Laws 308 and 309, which are identical, take effect January 1, 2025. Learn about the key requirements of the new law.